Henderson’s: Music video tribute to UK’s longest-running vegetarian restaurant

Local musician Helen Graham finished recording a song she had written called ‘Hendersons’ just days before the vegetarian restaurant, the longest-running in the UK, announced its closure.

Fondly recalling the 1970s when she and her husband first started dining at the restaurant, the song tells the story of how it went on to become a central part of their lives.

Catherine Home, daughter of Janet Henderson, the founder, said: “The song is terrific and such a lovely tribute.

“Our mother started the business in the sixties and then it was managed by Nicholas and Oliver, two of my brothers.

“All of the family are very upset that we have closed but unfortunately COVID just caught us all by surprise.”

Helen decided she would ask the Henderson family for permission to make a music video using archive photos from their collection to share on her youtube channel handknittedmusic.

She said: “Hopefully sharing these images with the song will help to keep some of the memories alive.

“People all over the world are going to miss this iconic restaurant so much.”

Recorded during lockdown Helen’s album, ‘Patchwork’, is a collection of songs telling stories about the repeating patterns of life spanning the five decades since she bought her first guitar.

It was released on Bandcamp at the end of October in aid of Sally Magnusson’s charity Playlist For Life.

In a statement in July, the family-run restaurant said the effects of the coronavirus pandemic had prompted its ‘very difficult decision’ to go into voluntary liquidation.

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